[Featured Stock] Appclon Approaches New Milestone Overcoming CAR-T Limits with Market Cap Rivalry of 1.6 Trillion vs 0.3 Trillion

Appclon's stock price is on the rise. Securities firms' analysis that the company possesses technology to overcome the limitations of chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) appears to be influencing the stock price.

As of 2:07 PM on the 13th, Appclon is trading at 19,200 KRW, up 7.32% from the previous day.

IBK Investment & Securities analyzed Appclon as undervalued on the same day.

Appclon holds the CAR-T therapy 'AT101' targeting 'CD19' on the surface of blood cancer cells. It is being developed with a strategy to minimize immunogenicity by using humanized antibodies and to minimize trogocytosis through rapid dissociation effects with the target antigen.

Lee Seon-kyung, a researcher at IBK Investment & Securities, explained, "Through interim results of Phase 1 clinical trials, it demonstrated a high initial response rate and superiority compared to competitors in 6-month follow-up data," adding, "It shows the most superior clinical efficacy compared to competitors at the 6-month mark."

The 12-month follow-up data is expected to be presented this year at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The key point to watch, according to the researcher, is confirming the maintenance of existing complete response (CR) patients.

Attention was also drawn to Autolus Therapeutics in the UK, which employs a similar strategy to Appclon. Although Autolus uses the same German Miltenyi device as Appclon, there are numerous recent studies indicating that Appclon's moderate affinity approach is superior in terms of efficacy.

The researcher stated, "In February, German BioNTech paid Autolus $50 million (approximately 66 billion KRW) in cash for joint research and use of production facilities, and separately purchased Autolus shares worth $200 million (approximately 260 billion KRW)." He continued, "Considering Autolus's deal cases and current market capitalization, Appclon's value is undervalued." As of the closing price on the 11th (local time), Autolus's market capitalization was $1.25 billion (approximately 1.2 trillion KRW).

The researcher emphasized, "The switchable CAR-T platform is a new approach designed to address heterogeneity, and nonclinical results targeting solid tumors will be presented at the upcoming AACR (American Association for Cancer Research)." He added, "If reproducibility is successfully demonstrated in future clinical trials based on nonclinical data, it will write a new chapter in the anticancer drug market."